The Blue Coat School was located on Upper Northgate Street,

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, England. It was housed in the Bluecoat building, which is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

as a designated Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

Before the school was built, it was the site of a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

hospital. In 1700 a

charity school Charity schools, sometimes called blue coat schools, or simply the Blue School, were significant in the history of education in England. They were built and maintained in various parishes by the voluntary contributions of the inhabitants to ...

was built in the precincts of

Chester Cathedral Chester Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral and the mother church of the Diocese of Chester. It is located in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. The cathedral, formerly the abbey church of a Benedictine monastery dedicated to Saint ...

; it was the first school outside London to be established by the

Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) is a United Kingdom, UK-based Christians, Christian charity. Founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray, it has worked for over 300 years to increase awareness of the Christians, Christian faith in the Un ...

. The charity school was moved to the Blue Coat School, which was built in 1717.

Almshouse An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) is charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often built for the poor of a locality, for those who had held ce ...

s were built behind the school. The school was originally an L-shaped building, with its main wing on Upper Northgate Street, and a south wing looking towards

Chester city walls Chester city walls consist of a defensive structure built to protect the city of Chester in Cheshire, England. Their construction was started by the Roman Britain, Romans when they established the Castra, fortress of Deva Victrix between 70 and ...

. The south wing contained a chapel, and the main wing the schoolroom and dormitories. In 1733 a north wing was added. A new façade was added to the main wing in 1854, and new almshouses were built. The clock was added the following year. The school closed in 1949, and the buildings were occupied by the Chester College of Higher Education (now part of the

University of Chester The University of Chester is a public university located in Chester, England. The university originated as the first purpose-built teacher training college in the UK. As a university, it now occupies five campuses, campus sites in and around Ch ...

). The Bluecoat building is owned by The Chester Bluecoat Charity and is currently a charity hub, home to many Chester based charities. Its name has been incorporated in the title of

Bishops' Blue Coat Church of England High School The Bishops' Blue Coat Church of England High School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Chester, United Kingdom. It is an academy and has STEM Assured status. Ofsted rated the School 'Good' in an inspection in March ...

Architecture

The building has a symmetrical U-shaped plan, and is constructed in brick with stone dressings. It has a hipped roof in grey

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

, and is in two storeys. The main block has five

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

, with the entrance bay in the centre; the second and fourth bays are recessed. Between the bays, and on the corners of the building, are rusticated

quoins Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th-century encyclopedia, ...

. The entrance bay leads to a through passage. The entrance is surrounded by a Tuscan-style doorcase with a

basket arch A basket-handle arch (also depressed arch or chop arch) is characterized by an intrados profile formed by a sequence of circular arcs, each tangent to its neighbors, resulting in a smooth transition between arcs. The simplest form, a three-cente ...

. Above it is a

niche Niche may refer to: Science *Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development and growth *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ec ...

containing the painted statue of a Blue Coat boy sculpted by Edward Richardson. In the upper storey is a six-pane

sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double glazing) of glass. History ...

, above which is a

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

containing a circular clock face. The recessed bays contain a basket-arched 19-pane sash window, and each lateral bay has a doorway with

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s, above which is a blank panel. Between the storeys is a stone band. Every bay in the upper storey has a sash window similar to that in the central bay. Centrally on top of the block is an octagonal

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

with a copper roof. The internal faces of the lateral wings have fenestration similar to that in the main block. Their front faces have basket-arched sash windows, and the north wing has an additional basement window.

References

{{Schools in Cheshire Grade II* listed buildings in Chester Grade II* listed educational buildings Georgian architecture in Cheshire School buildings completed in 1717 Defunct Christian schools Defunct schools in Cheshire West and Chester Bluecoat School 1717 establishments in England

History

Architecture

See also

References